Childrens Puppet Theatre

"All the world's a stage" - but sometimes it is nice to contain the theatrics to a neat corner of the house. What better way to empower children's imaginations than with a puppet theatre? annieB's playful stripe designed theatre encourages children to entertain themselves. Suitable for children of all ages and all dramatic tendencies, this is the stuff childhood memories are made of. Simply fit in a door way, or outside on a tree and let the magic begin...

Ingredients to embark on this playful adventure? Lively children and hand puppets!

How to make a Sock Puppet

Sock puppets are great fun and easy to make from items found around the house.

Step 1) Find a suitable sock, preferably one that you don’t want to wear again – perhaps one that has lost its pair. Longer socks work better than ankle socks - it gives your puppet a body.

Step 2) Make a mouth for your puppet using a piece of cardboard or a circle cut from an ice cream container lid – you just need a circle of something rigid. Put your hand into the sock to see where the mouth will fit, and then glue your circle to that spot.

Step 3) Once the glue has dried you can put your hand into the sock and fold your circle so that it forms a mouth.

Step 4) Now you’re ready to make the eyes. You can do this using lots of different things – googly eyes, buttons, ping pong balls cut in half – it’s up to you! Once you’ve attached the eyes, by either gluing or sewing them on, your puppet is ready to go. If you need to sew the eyes on you might want to ask for help from your parents.

Step 5) Decorate your puppet! Add some floppy felt ears, a cotton ball nose or pipe cleaner whiskers – the list is endless. You can make your puppet whatever you want, it’s up to you! And once you’ve finished you can make friends for your puppet.

Step 6) Write a story! This is the fun part, getting to use your sock puppet. Dream up all kinds of adventures for your puppets to go on and act them out for your family in your puppet theatre.

Take a look at this quick video to get an idea of how a simple sock puppet looks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOmlkeLuEZg

Happy Making!